Forest Blesses Human Beings

Green symbolizes life， and forest is referred as the essential source of the earth vitality.

From ancient time， forest has been playing an important role through all human-related activities， contributing to life extension， ecosystem functioning， social and economical development. It also blesses human being in our diet and nutrition system. As a complicated ecosystem， forest accommodates diverse species of creatures， from fruits， leaves to rich sources of insects， and all of them are rich in vitamins， proteins and other nutritional components， which can help to improve food diversity and serve as an additional way to solve problems of food shortage and nutrition deficiency.

The potential for forest to provide food is promising. A research on Melanesia， one of three archipelagos in Pacific shows that sago produced by local palm trees can feed as many as 300， 000 local people with carbohydrate. Wild animals are also a food source. A conservative estimation by Democratic Republic of Congo pointed out that three quarters of their protein are from wild animals' meat. Courtyard is a complicated agricultural production center depending on trees to help maintain system balanced and production stable and courtyard trees is another key food source. Traditional courtyard in Nigeria is capable of accommodating more than 60 types of food producing trees. Another study by Guyana found that forest food is especially important in rural areas in food shortage seasons， like from April to August， wild food is 4 times in proportion of that in harvest seasons. In Sahel area， farmers plant mango for seasons lacking of food. Jungle roots and tubers harvested across India in the rainy season can provide carbohydrate to people in forest areas and nearby.

Forest does great in balancing nutrition. According to a study made by Swaziland， a country in southeast of Africa， calories， vitamin C， calcium and iron contained by wild leaves is the same as the leaves of cultivated plants. Forest food is important supplement of food to Kenyans and Swaziland children. Seeds of trees in West Africa named pakerya are also a kind of food rich in protein and fat.

Forest can help increase income for local people. It is hard to plant crops in desertified land， but can plant nut trees and fruit trees. Chestnuts， rich in various kinds of nutritious components， can be used to make dishes and also be further processed into chestnut flour. Similarly， camellia trees， pepper trees and persimmon trees can both help solve the problem of food shortage and also gain economic profit. Two scholars Huang Heyu and Lin Zepan wrote that “in comprehensive development of mountainous areas， forest fruit， forest vegetable， edible fungus， forest drinks， forest pigment and forest pollen these 6 categories of forest production have been exploited， including hundreds of varieties of food. About 100 million kilograms of potherb， more than 100 million kilograms of dried bamboo shoots and 400 million kilograms of lentinus edodes can greatly enrich people's vegetable basket and play great role in promoting health. Leaves， bark， roots， flowers， seeds， oilseeds， and wood scraps can be directly used or processed to be a unique source of feed， which is of significance to the development of feed industry and the improvement of people's income. In China， hundreds of species of trees are relevant， among which dozens of species of trees can achieve significant economic benefit."

Mo Kailin， Deputy Director of the State Forestry Administration of China Forest Product Quality Inspection Center （Chengdu） said in the interview by “China Green Times"， "While ensuring food nutritious level， good quality forest emphasizes the safety of producing environment and sustainability of producing process to guarantee food safety. Lots of forest food are featured homology of medicine and food and have a high efficacy of medical care， which is in line with modern people's health and developing requirement. Forest food conforms to the requirement of the dietary guidelines recommended by WHO."